THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



181 



leaving the name "Holy Land" as 

 applied to bees, for such as have a 

 mortal dread of being too exact in 

 their work and modes of expres- 

 sion. 



Munich^ Germany, Nov. 3, 1883. 



EDITORIAL. 



One of the most vexing and 

 seemingly knotty subjects with 

 which the beekeepers of to-day 

 have to cope, is that of how we 

 shall dispose of our honey with 

 the best results both to the pro- 

 ducer and consumer. 



The majority of tlie beekeepers 

 are composed of the hard toiling 

 producers, who " earn their bread 

 by the sweat of their brows" (the 

 most honorable and only God-given 

 means of obtaining .a livelihood), 

 and this subject is one of great in- 

 terest and vital importance to them. 



It is a well known fact that the 

 majority of the laboring classes 

 are obliged to be content with the 

 necessities of life while the few are 

 supported in luxury ; nor is api- 

 culture free from this. After pay- 

 ing the supply dealers' bills, the 

 current expenses of the apiary, the 

 cost of shipping the honey and 

 the demands of those who sell their 

 hone}^ for them, there is but a 

 small amount left for their own re- 

 muneration for their hard season's 

 work, and the interest of the capi- 

 tal invested. 



Do we not state the facts in the 

 case? It may be pleasing to listen 

 to the reports of large crops of 

 honey ; but when we sit down and 

 carefully estimate how many pounds 



of extracted or comb honey must be 

 taken from an apiary of one hundred 

 colonies to pa}^ the expenses and 

 give the apiarist fair compensa- 

 tion for his time and investment, a 

 great deal of the beauty of the pic- 

 ture is spoiled. 



This may be rather plain talk, 

 and there ma}^ be those to whom it 

 is not pleasing, but vve consider it 

 our duty to the thousands of bee- 

 keepers who look to our journals 

 for advice and instruction to deal 

 with a fair representation of bee- 

 keeping as it is. 



The great question now is, are 

 there any means by or through 

 which we satisfactorily settle this 

 subject. We feel wan-anted in as- 

 suring our readers that there is 

 oi)en to us one way by which we 

 may dispose of our honey so that 

 both the producers and consumers 

 will be benefited. 



When our beekeepers, becoming 

 fully aroused to the necessity of 

 making some reforms, turn out in 

 en masse at our state conventions, 

 and elect delegates to our national 

 convention who have the interest 

 of the beekeepers at heart and who 

 go to the national convention de- 

 termined to carry out measures 

 which shall help to establish api- 

 culture as a safe and remunerative 

 industry ; then and only then can 

 we fully accomplish the desired 

 results. 



We are deeply interested in this 

 matter and feel more deeply every 

 day the necessity of a more thorough 

 organization of the beekeepers. 

 There are those who think to live 

 on the hard earned dollars of the 



